Wednesday, December 08, 2010

Hold up and wait a damn minute…

I've been a bad, bad girl
I've been careless with a delicate man
And it's a sad, sad world
When a girl will break a boy just because she can

A bitch has been sitting here thinking through the push back from the moderate left against progressive criticism of the compromise to extend the Bush era tax cuts and…well, um…here’s the thing - I’m not a moderate.

Don't you tell me to deny it
I've done wrong and I want to suffer for my sins

Don’t get me wrong, I understand and appreciate moderates. Hell, some of my best friends are moderates!

I've come to you 'cause I need guidance to be true
And I just don't know where I can begin

Y’all have a role to play and I’ve got my role to play, but don’t jump up in my cyber face tisk tasking me for taking exception to this do nothing expensive as hell extension of the status quo.

And don’t come at me with the rock and a hard place.

I’ve got friends and family who needed their unemployment benefits extended…real people who I have to look in the eye, damn it…and I still don’t support this compromise.

What I need is a good defense

You need to hold up and wait a damn minute!

'Cause I'm feeling like a criminal

When I criticize this administration I’m doing my damn job.

And I need to be redeemed

When I call shit from a bull bullshit I’m keeping it real.

And this compromise is bullshit.

To the one I've sinned against

It’s not just bad for progressives…it’s bad for everyone but the rich motherfuckers getting a pass in all of this because we’re busy feeding on our own.

Because he's all I ever knew of love

Now don’t get me wrong…I’m not a member of the He’s Gotta Go Club.

The only profit I see in a 2012 primary challenge is a revival of 1968.

Heaven help me for the way I am
Save me from these evil deeds before I get them done
I know tomorrow brings the consequence at hand
But I keep living this day like the next will never come

But we’ve got to stop acting like our policy demands are outrageous…like we were just tossing out an idea for folks to chew on for a spell…and like our needs aren’t relevant needs worthy of consideration by the government we fucking helped get elected.

Oh help me but don't tell me to deny it
I've got to cleanse myself of all these lies 'till I'm good enough for him
I've got a lot to lose and I'm bettin' high so I'm begging you
Before it ends just tell me where to begin

Clearly we have a divide on the left. I happen to think these divides are healthy if they force both sides to evaluate their positions and hash shit out.

What I need is a good defense
'Cause I'm feeling like a criminal

But I’ve had it up to my Afro with folks acting like I need to get in line…hush up and take what scraps get tossed my way just because some fiends on the right find amusement in our public display of dissent.

12 comments:

brian
said...

Shark fu, I find myself siding with the president on this issue.Unemployment and middle class taxes,which will go right back into the economy,matter more to me than the POSSIBLITY of change in a republican controlled house.The treaty with Russia is important.By protecting the most vulnerable among us, we live on to fight another day.If we draw a line in the sand, it may end here. And the bottom will suffer.

But the most vulnerable among us suffer most when the economy is in crisis...and the economy got in crisis with this exact same structure in place. This isn't about new tax cuts freeing up new cash...this is about extending what already exists and has not trickled down.

Thank you for reminding folks about 1968... Every damn time I read something about a primary challenge, I just curse under my breath and say OK, if you liked president Nixon, you're gonna love president Palin. I'm fifty years old and I remember that shit, but just barely 'cause I was seven at the time. Maybe those a little younger than me might need to find out what happened, because really, as bad as Nixon was, and he was bad, Palin would make him look like FDR...

The president is not a dictator. He is not able to proclaim his desired polices and just watch them be enacted. If a better deal was possible earlier this year, why didn't these same exasperated Democratic Congress critters enact a better deal? It ain't happening.

There is no way the nihlistic Republicans would have expanded unemployment insurance without other drastic cuts to programs we cherish. We didn't have the votes for a middle class only tax cut. Taxes rising now would nip any incipient recovery in the bud. My preference would be to let them all expire, get additional stimulus to those who would actually spend it, and pass the public option for health care, but evidently the wish genie has been unable to comply given the Republican and Blue Dog refusal to agree.

Tax cuts aren't great policy but to think that Obama can magically change the conventional wisdom ingrained since the 70s that lower taxes are the greatest thing since sliced bread, and do so in less than 10 days before Congress goes home is simply wishful thinking. Keep wishing all you want, but it doesn't change present reality. We got a lot of goodies in the tax package we never would have gotten thru congress on their own.

In two years, we’ll be here again. No one will want to “raise taxes” entering into a presidential campaign. Every damned thing that the GOP demands now, will be demanded then. In 2012, there will again be demands to extend tax cuts for the wealthy, inheritance and payroll. And the numbers of jobless (hostages) will have increased. The bet this administration is making (that the economy will turn around by 2012) comes from the same cadre of advisors who shorted the stimulus. Hope versus reality – hard choice.

In two years, we’ll be here again. No one will want to “raise taxes” entering into a presidential campaign. Every damned thing that the GOP demands now, will be demanded then. In 2012, there will again be demands to extend tax cuts for the wealthy, inheritance and payroll. And the numbers of jobless (hostages) will have increased. The bet this administration is making (that the economy will turn around by 2012) comes from the same cadre of advisors who shorted the stimulus. Hope versus reality – hard choice.

I don't have much to add, but I believe I am a voice of reason among my generation when I say this.

I am a 24 year old, working part time, with a degree in a field that honestly isn't going to suit me unless I get off my own lazy ass and start making artwork and a portfolio that will get me a job in a graphics company, and I want to pay my taxes, and the taxes I owe.

Do I like it? No, but I understand taxes are necessary and the taxes I pay provide me with things that help keep my standard of living comfortable and help to keep me safe and free.

Now why can't everyone just be like that? I'm not even getting in what income levels should pay what amount, but can we all agree to pay taxes first? Then we can argue on the amounts for the rich, middle class, and poor.

Obama should have said to them show me the fats. Show me exactly where things have trickled down and helped and then we can talk. They never get their feet held to the fire. They get to exist in theory and speculation and may be it will be so fantasies. It is actually ridiculous. You want money then show me exact statistics that prove your point that the trickle down effect works or that tax credits for the rich have helped the economy. All the social service programs must prove their worth and their effects why shouldn't the rich.